Ministry wants MPs, MLAs to pitch in for urban renewal

For the Urban Development Ministry, an additional budgetary support of Rs 5,500 crore is not enough to rid Indian cities of the ‘‘...

For the Urban Development Ministry, an additional budgetary support of Rs 5,500 crore is not enough to rid Indian cities of the ‘‘substandard’’ tag, when compared to developed countries. It has suggested that MPLADS/MLALADS funds should also be tapped to meet the cost of its urban renewal plan.

This proposal by the National Steering Group, created for implementation and monitoring of the Urban Renewal Mission for Select States, will come up before the Cabinet in a week’s time.

Despite the quantum leap from the last budgetary allocation, Ministry sources say, Rs 5,500 crore can only serve as seed-money over the next five years to help state governments get loans from financial institutions. The cost of any single infrastructure project for turning Mumbai into Shanghai would cost Maharashtra more than the entire allocation. And there are six other mega-cities and 28 one-million-plus population cities under the project.

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According to the present plan, the Centre will have to bear 35 per cent of the project cost, the states or urban local bodies will have to give 15 per cent, and the rest will have to be generated from outside sources.

The Ministry proposes to spend Rs 4,000 crore for mega-cities in the first year, Rs 9,000 crore in the second, Rs 12,000 crore in the third and fourth years and Rs 8,000 crore in the last year. The other cities, 53 in all, would be getting only Rs 1,000 crore per year for the next five years.

The states have already started queuing up for funds.

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